Devices for ejecting non-conforming containers at the outlet of a blow-molding carousel are already known. U.S. Pat. No. 5,591,462 illustrates a machine belonging to the Applicant Company, provided with means of controlling the quality of the blown products, with a system for ejecting non-conforming containers. The containers are ejected, in the earlier machines of the Applicant Company, by a picker driven by a cylinder actuator. The high throughputs of the latest-generation blow-molding machines no longer allow effective use of this picker, because the actuating cylinder does not have a swift enough response time.
Document U.S. Pat. No. 3,488,994 also discloses a routing device of the type having a picker driven by an actuating cylinder. However, this embodiment is unable to achieve high routing rates for the containers routed using this device.
Document U.S. Pat. No. 4,596,107 also proposes a routing device in which the gripping arms follow a cam path on the periphery of a fixed transverse plate, a vertically retractable cam being able to intersect the runway in such a way as to route a second stream of containers toward a different outlet. However, this embodiment is relatively complicated and bulky to implement, particularly in terms of the means for retracting the retractable cam.